August 27, 2023
It’s almost 2 years since I paid my initial deposit to Henley beginning the process of knocking down my old house and rebuilding a brand-new home. Over those 2 years I’ve done my best to keep you informed on the trials and tribulations of the building process so I thought this week’s post should take a step back and tell you what I love about my Henley home
While the house is still a work in progress outside with items like a driveway and landscaping not even begun to date, most of the inside is complete.
First up
First, I’d say that I love the Carmelle 25 floorplan of my new Henley home. I visited dozens of display homes before making my decision and I’d remind you that this was my fourth or fifth favorite home out of all of them. For several reasons, I could not build the other designs I liked but I am happy with my final choice.
Walking in the front door I love the spaciousness of the design and the abundance of natural light that streams into all my main living areas. The double-glazed windows keep it quiet inside and help insulate the heat and cold.
Better than before
Another favorite is my incredible new kitchen. My island bench alone measures a massive 2.6m x 1.2m which is bigger than the tiny kitchen in the home that I had demolished. I’ve started to enjoy cooking again using my wonderful SMEG appliances and it’s great to throw the dirty dishes in the dishwasher at the end.
Though these were not purchased through Henley, the plantation shutters I added give a classy feel to all the north facing windows. They are easy to clean and look great with the Hampton’s style of the Eastport façade I chose. They sure beat the dusty old drapes in my former home.
In my previous house the master bedroom was smaller than any of my bedrooms in my new home, so it should come as no surprise that I love the spacious master bedroom. Twin dressing rooms and twin wash basins in the ensuite add a sense of luxury that feels great when I wake up every morning. All these features were standard when I purchased.
My favorite
While I love all the features mentioned above, there’s one that stood out long before the house was even built. Inside Henley’s “World of Homes” in Berwick’s Minta Estate was the Panama 28 which I loved. In my opinion, the greatest feature of this home was the superb Spotted Gum timber floors.
Adding Spotted Gum floors to most of my home was expensive. Henley use Timbertop floors for most of their timber finishes and they were expensive. It cost me circa $12K to add Spotted Gum floors to everywhere except the wet areas and the bedrooms.
Despite the cost, the Spotted Gum timber floors look incredible and feel great under foot. Having spent a lot of time traveling in Japan, I love their sense of cleanliness in the homes. With that in mind I have made my new home a shoe-off environment. That combined with my new robot vacuum cleaner has left my timber floors not just looking great, they are easily kept spotless too.
While I still have ongoing issues with Henley’s mistakes and lack of action to fix them, I’d be the first to admit that I’m 80% happy with the results so far. There’s still lots to love about my Henley home.